US: Seven men described by the Bush administration as "homegrown terrorists" have been charged with conspiring with al-Qaeda to blow up the Sears tower in Chicago, America's tallest building, and five federal buildings.
Five of the suspects, aged between 22 and 32, are US citizens. One is a legal immigrant from Haiti and another is a Haitian national who was in the US illegally.
"They were persons who for whatever reason came to view their home country as the enemy," attorney general Alberto Gonzales said yesterday.
Court documents said that Narseal Batiste, the ringleader of the group, boasted of wanting to "kill all the devils we can" in a mission "just as good or greater than 9/11".
The other suspects were identified as Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin, and Rothschild Augustine.
"The convergence of globalisation and technology has created a new brand of terrorism. Today terrorist threats come from smaller, more loosely defined cells not affiliated with al-Qaeda but who are inspired by a violent jihadist message, and left unchecked these homegrown terrorists may prove to be as dangerous as groups like al-Qaeda," Mr Gonzales said.
The arrests in Miami followed an elaborate sting operation that began last December when Mr Batiste met someone posing as a representative of al-Qaeda - someone police say was actually an agent of a country friendly to the US.
The indictment said Batiste initially asked for "boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios, and vehicles", as well as $50,000 in cash, to help him build an "Islamic army to wage jihad".
At a meeting on March 16th at a warehouse in the Miami area, the seven defendants allegedly discussed a plot to bomb FBI buildings in five cities, and each swore an oath of loyalty to al-Qaeda before the purported al-Qaeda representative.
Mr Gonzales acknowledged that the plotting of the seven, who never had any weapons, never went beyond the earliest planning stages.
"There was no immediate threat. They didn't have the materials required," he said.
Miami media said the defendants, who sold hair grease and shampoo on the street, referred to one another as Brother and belonged to a sect called "Seas of David".
FBI deputy director John Pistole said the plot to blow up the Sears tower was "more aspirational than operational", but illustrated the threat posed by small groups without connections to international terror networks.
"These are members of a homegrown terrorist cell. Their goal was simple: to accomplish attacks against America. We pre-empted their plot," he said.
Mr Pistole said the members of the group shared a "common ideology", and called them "separatists in the sense of not believing that the United States had the authority to enforce certain laws against them".
Neighbours of the warehouse in the Liberty City section of Miami described the men as a militaristic group in their teens and 20s, but one that did not seem threatening.
One neighbour, Tashawn Rose, told the Associated Press they seemed "brainwashed".
"They would come out late at night and exercise. It seemed like a military boot camp that they were working on there. They would come out and stand guard," she said.
Tourists lined up yesterday to take in the view atop America's tallest office building as workers went to their desks inside as usual. "The possibility [ of an attack] will always exist - you can't stop living," said Terrie Coles (52), office manager for an engineering firm, as she headed inside the 110-storey building.
"I just hope and pray that people are doing their jobs to keep us safe," she added, but "I'm sceptical the plot even existed".
(Additional reporting: Reuters)